The Black Stars of Ghana will play
against the Mena of Niger as part
of the last fixtures in Group B on
Monday. The Nigeriens are participating in
only their second Nations Cup
tournament after a maiden
appearance in Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea last year. They
picked up their first and only point in the tournament on
Thursday night in a goalless draw
against DR Congo. Identified by pundits as the
weakest team in the group, they
are currently on the bottom of
the log with a point, no goal and
a goal conceded. Despite this,
they are mathematically still very much in with a chance of
qualifying, and will be hoping to
chalk their first ever Nations Cup
win. The Black Stars on the other
hand recovered from an opening
day setback (a 2-2 draw with DR
Congo) to record a narrow 1-0
win over Mali on Thursday. The
Black Stars currently lie top of the log with three goals and two
conceded. Tipped by many not
only as favourites to win the
group but the tournament as a
whole, the Ghanaians will go into
the game as the side under pressure, especially given that
the group in now wide open, and
every team is in with a genuine
shot at qualification. Ghana might miss the services of
midfielder Anthony Annan and
Striker Richmond Boakye-Yiadom,
both recovering from injuries.
Winger Mubarak Wakaso is on
suspension for receiving two yellow cards in the first two
games. Even though skipper
Asamoah Gyan sat out Friday
morning's training, he is expected
to be fit for the game. Both teams have met nine times
overall, with Ghana winning on
eight occasions, the remaining
game finishing in a 2-2 draw in
February 1982. Ghana have
scored a whopping 34 goals against the Nigeriens in their nine
meetings (including 16 goals in
only their first two meetings in
1969), while they (Niger) have
only managed four goals against
the Black Stars. The match will be both teams'
first ever meeting in the Nations
Cup.